Mombasa, Kenya

We have just come back from Mombasa, Kenya's 2nd largest city that lies on the coastal region of the country bordering the Indian Ocean. We stayed at the Voyager Beach Resort which we had booked through booking.com. We arrived in the early evening and decided to take it easy on the first day by soaking in the beautiful scenery and do absolutely nothing else.

                            

On our second day I talked to the reception at the resort about the possibility of exploring the main tourist sites in Mombasa and they arranged to have a taxi come get us. The taxi driver gave us various suggestions then said he would take us to the sites we wanted to see and wait for us as we explored at our own pace, then drop us back at the resort. The first stop was at the famous Mombasa landmark of elephant tusks located at the city center, for some photos. These tusks, which are made of aluminum (you didn't think they were real did you?) were built in 1952 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's visit to the city and if you look at how the tusks are shaped you can see they spell out the letter M for Mombasa.

Our second stop was at Fort Jesus, a military base in Mombasa built in 1593 by the Portuguese and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage cultural site. Entrance here was Kshs. 200 ($2) for Kenyan residents and Kshs. 1200 ($12) for non residents, we had the option of getting a guide to explain the history of the fort or walk around by ourselves. I opted for a guide so we could appreciate the fort more as he explained the history, it's a long history which I will not get into but here is a detailed link for anyone that's interested in learning more. The guide we got had been recommended by our driver and he was an older gentleman who was hilarious and made the tour more fun, he was also very enthusiastic about taking photos which was good as we didn't end up feeling like we were bothering him with photo requests.

Layout of Fort Jesus

After having our fill of Fort Jesus the guide took us on a tour of Mombasa Old Town right next to the fort. Mombasa Old Town is a historical tourist attraction and walking through the narrow streets we got to see and learn about the various cultural mixes and influences (Portuguese, Arab, Indian and British) which was very interesting. The streets were like a maze and the guide was telling us that it's very easy to get lost if you are not from the area or familiar with the area, I know I would definitely get lost if I was left to navigate those narrow streets by myself.

After our tour of Old Town we decided to head back to the resort, it was super hot and silly us we didn't carry sunscreen so you can only imagine how burnt we got. We paid the guide $15 for the tours and $30 for the taxi driver, the whole experience lasted about 4 - 5 hours and even though the sun did a number on us, it was all worth it. At least we got to cool off by the pool and indulge in some much needed cold drinks before calling it a day

That's it folks, on our 3rd day which was our last full day I met up with a couple of friends from high school that I hadn't seen in almost 20 years! we did a lot of catching up and they showed us around more sites in Mombasa. All in all, the trip was a success and everything went according to plan.

Random Thoughts of The Day:

Mombasa is HOOOOOOT!!! and humid so carry lots of sunscreen and be prepared to be dripping sweat 24/7. Thank goodness for the air conditioning in our room which provided a very much needed cool off, not all places have air conditioning so have that in mind.

There are certain things you will see at the coast that will unsettle you initially and maybe with time you might get used to it or not. You will see a lot of mismatched couples, I am talking about very old foreign men or women with very young African ladies or men. In some cases the young partners appear under age and its just so unsettling and plain disgusting, let me not sugar coat things. These young partners are looking for money and a better life trying to escape poverty while these older partners know the existing desperation so they take advantage of it. They are both using each other but c'mon who really has the upper hand here? 

You can get to Mombasa by flying which takes about 40 - 50 minutes from Nairobi or by taking the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) which takes almost 6 hours, the express train is only an hour shorter. We ended up flying because I waited until last minute to look up train tickets and they had all been sold out, to be honest I wasn't looking forward to the long train ride so flying worked out perfectly.

By the 4th day which is when we were leaving Mombasa, we were both so tired of the heat and constant sweating that we couldn't wait to get to Nairobi which is way cooler and fresher, weather wise. Our flight was at 10:30 am and we got to the airport at around 9:15 am, we were informed of an earlier flight leaving at 9:40 and the attendants offered to get us on it if we wanted. You should have seen how excited we were, we just wanted out!

When booking a resort read the fine print especially if the deal is too good! turns out the deal I booked was for half board meaning lunch and drinks were not covered (we had to pay out of pocket for this), we could only partake in breakfast and dinner. Good things is their breakfast and dinner buffets were pretty extensive so we were able to indulge and I personally could do with no lunch but my husband who gets grouchy when hungry was not at all pleased by this half board business. 

Maasai Mara National Reserve

We just came back from an unforgettable three day adventure at the Maasai Mara where we were totally disconnected so that's why I could not update the blog. Maasai Mara is one of Africa's greatest wildlife reserves situated at the south western part of Kenya and it attracts thousands of tourists each year especially during the months of July - October when the great wildebeest migration occurs.

We booked a three day tour of the Mara with Bison Safaris through Safari Bookings website which has ratings of hundreds of tour companies and allows you to do comparisons in order to find one that suits you best. My top three choices were actually Bison Safaris, Axis Africa Safaris and African Paradise Safaris which all had good reviews and were very responsive to my inquiries. I settled on Bison because more people had rated them but trust me, the process of elimination was not easy! the other two seemed great as well. Now without further ado let's get into our Mara adventure.....

Day One:

We were punctually picked up from our residence early in the morning and since we had booked a shared tour, our van had two more stops to make in order to pick up the other people in the group. Our tour had 6 people in total. The drive to Mara was about 7 hours if not more because we had to stop for lunch then briefly stopped at the Great Rift Valley to take some pictures. We arrived at our camp in the evening and after getting situated, our driver/guide came back to get us for an evening game drive. We spotted quite a number of animals and we were informed that the following day we would have a full day game drive so we were bound to see way more animals. The evening drive lasted about a couple of hours then we were taken back to our camp to have dinner before calling it a night.

The Great Rift Valley lies down below, behind us.......

Our humble abode..........

Day Two:

After breakfast very early in the morning, our group met up at 7 am as we had been instructed and our driver/guide came to get us for a full day of game drive. We saw so many animals in their natural habitat and the beauty of it all can not be described, you just have to see it to appreciate it. In addition to being very beautiful, I have to say Maasai Mara is huuuuuge!!! we drove for hours and it seemed like there was no end (I just looked up the size online and it says that the reserve stretches 580 sq miles/1510 sq km).

After hours of animal watching we stopped for lunch then continued with the game drive till evening when we were driven back to our camp. It was such a long day and everyone was so tired, you should have seen our faces when being dropped off for the evening. I got to chatting to this one guy in the group who was asking for recommendations on what to check out in Nairobi, I mentioned the national park and he raised both his hands saying, "no more animals! please!" it was hilarious but that gives you an idea of how our day went, after all the animals we saw I think we all had our fill and no one will be checking out any animals for a while!

Hippos just basking in the sun enjoying the good life....

Wildebeests......there was a lot of them all over the place

Trying to be cool in the wilderness...

Lioness just chilling and hiding from the very hot sun, I don't blame her......it was HOT!!

Day Three:

This was our last day so after packing up our things and having breakfast, we were taken to visit a Maasai village. The Maasai tribe is one of the 43 tribes we have in Kenya and the Maasai people are pretty famous for having maintained a good chunk of their culture and traditional way of life. The visit to the village was voluntary and the charge to get into the village was Kshs. 1000 ($10), once inside, we were shown various traditional dances of the men as a guide explained to us about the families living in the village and their way of life. One thing to note is that you will be sucked into buying some of their jewelry, you can firmly say no but these folks were pretty persistent. I suppose people have to make money one way or another, right? all in all I didn't mind the experience, I actually found it pretty interesting.

How perfect was this shot of the guy jumping??! LOVE IT!

That's it folks! after our village visit we set off on the long trip back to Nairobi, tired and dusty for having been in the wilderness but very content at having made this unforgettable trip.

NOTE: Our Mara trip came to a total cost of $510 for a shared tour. I paid $195 as a Kenyan and my husband paid $290 as a non resident, since we paid with a card we paid an extra $25 transaction fee. This cost included transportation, meals and lodging.

Random Thoughts of The Day:

When going to the Mara expect to get dirty, you are in the wilderness after all. There are no paved roads in the reserve which is cool because it maintains that natural feel and look but boy does the drive get dusty! just wear clothes and shoes that you don't mind getting dirty in.

Of all things I decided not to carry was a hat to protect me from the sun during the game drive, I assumed since we would be in the van then we wouldn't be exposed to the sun.....WRONG! I felt all the bright sunshine's splendor on my forehead! thank goodness I had a coat which I used to cover my head.

A flash light would have really come in handy because at night it got so dark you could not even see your hand if you held it right in front of your face. At our camp they were using generators for electricity and they had specific times as to when they would be turned on and off meaning we had limited time to use electricity before it went out. Thank goodness there was a constant supply of hot water so those hot water showers came in handy at the end of the day.

Roads leading to the Mara are not the best so expect a really bumpy ride, I am not even talking about a slight cute bump, I am talking about hold on to your seat kind of bumpy ride. I would hate to visit during rainy season because I can only imagine how muddy the roads get.

I had read about this in some reviews and I got to witness it myself. During the game tours, our driver as well as the drivers of other tour companies would try to agitate some of the animals in order to get some sort of response out of them. For instance, all the lions and lionesses we saw were hiding behind bushes taking naps while shielding themselves from the hot sun, the drivers would disturb the bushes around them so that the animals would get up. This part I really didn't like because the animals would be forced to wake up and if they tried to move to another bush they would be followed yet again and be agitated for the sake of our viewing pleasure.

This couple from Siberia that we met during the tour was telling us that where they live it gets down to -50 degrees during winter. I can't even imagine what kind of torture that is! another couple from Estonia chimed in and said they get down to -25 degrees..........and here we were feeling relieved to have temporarily escaped from -7 degrees!

Adventures Around Nairobi

Today has been a very eventful day and I am so glad we got to cross out a few items from our itinerary. We started the day at the Sheldrick Wild Life Trust (DSWT) which is a rescue and rehabilitation program for orphaned elephants. They open their doors between 11 am and 12 pm which is when they feed the baby elephants, and the entrance fee is Ksh 500 (equivalent to about $5). We over estimated traffic and we ended up getting there at 10 am so we had an hour's wait before we could get in, we were actually not the only people who got there early and as the minutes inched to 11 am more people kept showing up and I was glad we actually came earlier because we were able to get good parking and a nice spot for viewing the baby elephants.

After watching the adorable elephants we decided to head out to the Giraffe Center which is a sanctuary for giraffes. The giraffe center is located not too far from the David Sheldrick Wild Life Trust so it was very convenient to head out there next, we actually bumped into several people that we had seen at DSWT. The entrance fee here was Ksh 250 (equivalent to $2.50) for residents and Ksh 1000 ($10) for non-residents, their hours of operation are 9 am - 5 pm so there is more flexibility with visiting times. At the center we got to feed and pat the giraffes which was super cool! as cute as those animals were I was very mindful of the warning signs indicating the possibility of being head butted, yikes! I guess you can't trust those adorable suckers.

Next on the list was Nairobi National Park which is the only park in the world that borders a capital city. We had three options to explore: a game drive into the park where the animals roam free, a visit to the animal orphanage where the animals are in cages or go on a nature walk where you can spot some animals living cage free but sort of fenced in for protection. I figured since we are going on a safari soon we could pass on the game drive, we didn't want to see animals in cages so we opted on the nature walk which the guides told us is the next best option to the game drive. Entrance fee here was Ksh 215 ($2.15) for residents and $22 for non residents, unlike the other two places we had been to they were only accepting cards or M-PESA for payment, no cash.

The nature walk was actually really nice and I am so glad we chose to do it.

We came across a Maasai guy in his traditional clothing and he humored us by dressing my husband up and letting us take photos.......a little fee was involved, nothing is ever free but it was fun all the same

That's it folks! the beginning of many adventures to come. Tomorrow we are heading out on a Safari so watch out for a post on that.

Random Thoughts of The Day:

The last time I was in Kenya was in 2010 and things have changed so much! I feel like such a stranger in my own country which does pain me. I really should be visiting as often as possible.

There is so much construction and development around Nairobi and it seems like apartment buildings are springing up left, right and center. I can't count the number of billboards we have seen advertising properties for sale.

It really does feel good to be back home although I am overwhelmed by the change, sometimes I wonder how my life would have been like had I never left Kenya.

It's actually very refreshing to see and hear kids playing outside and just being kids, It brings back so many memories of my childhood.

My husband is really enjoying himself here and I am so excited showing him around. As I am re-discovering Kenya he is discovering it.

Nairobi, Kenya

Ladies and gentlemen, the trip that I have been looking forward to for ages is finally here!!! we are in Kenya, my homeland. We got into Nairobi which is the capital city, a few days ago and the trip took 22 hours so you don't even want to know how exhausted we are, jet lag is no joke! my husband and I have been literally blacking out at odd hours of the day and night as our bodies try to adjust to the 9 hour time difference between Nairobi and where we live in the states. To make matters worse he got a nasty cold at the beginning of our trip so he is slowly recovering from it, I just hope I don't get it next. We have been taking things super easy and I have been re-connecting with my family which so far has been the highlight of this trip. Actually, no matter what we end up doing and experiencing during this trip, spending time with my family is still going to be the biggest highlight.

That's it folks.......for now anyway, I am super tired but do watch out for more posts.